In the past month, they notified the parents of an estimated 160 children that they were newly eligible to catch a bus to and from school.

The Springfield school district revised its busing eligibility this summer to expand service to more students in danger of crossing a busy road if they walked.

40 out of 160 eligible students using bus

"We pulled lists of the students that were going to be impacted and my staff reached out to the families personally to announce the change," said Jonathan Shelden, director of transportation. "We let them know it was going to happen and find out if they were interested in transportation."

So far, 40 of the 160 students are riding the bus.

An average of 7,600 Springfield students ride the bus every day. Students are eligible for free busing if they live 1.5 miles from their elementary or middle school or 3.5 miles from their high school.

There is also a barrier street provision that provides busing for students who live less than 1.5 miles from school if their route includes traversing a busy roadway such as U.S. 65, James River Freeway, Interstate 44, and stretches of Glenstone Avenue, West Bypass, Kearney Street, National Avenue and others.

Earlier this year, city traffic engineers realized there was a discrepancy between how the city and district defined barrier streets. The designation is based on posted speed limits, average daily traffic volume and classification.

The barrier street definition came up in the School Crossing Protection Committee — a cooperative between the city, county, school district, law enforcement and Springfield Council of PTAs — and the city and district worked together to find a resolution.

Eric Claussen, city traffic engineer, said that as a result of the talks, additional stretches of primary arterial roads have now been designated as barrier streets. The high-capacity thoroughfares link traffic from collector streets to expressways.

Examples of such roads include Sunshine Street, Republic Road and Battlefield Road.

"We really didn't want kids crossing primary arterials," he said.

Shelden, who has been in charge of district busing for less than a year, joined the long-standing committee.

Jonathan Shelden(Photo: File photo)

As a result, the definition of barrier street was tweaked. It includes the stretches of wide roads where the posted speed is 45 mph or faster and the traffic volume averages more than 20,000 vehicles a day.

"We are trying to make sure when kids are crossing, they aren't crossing wide streets," Claussen said.

The committee's review also involved downgrading a portion of Grant Avenue from Grand to Division streets from a primary arterial to a secondary arterial road. The move was prompted because traffic volume is lower than 20,000 vehicles a day.

Claussen said not all primary arterial roads will be considered barrier streets. He said the definition will not apply to sections of those roads where the posted speed limit is 35 mph or lower or there are traffic signals or school crossing guards.

"We did allow, with this change, some flexibility," he said.

However, the committee plans to keep an eye on those stretches to see if they need to be designated as barrier streets, prompting busing, in the future.

"That gives us time and them time to find funding for transportation," Claussen said.

Still hiring: Bus drivers needed

Springfield Public Schools continues to accept applications for bus drivers. The district, which runs at least 132 routes, still has open positions with paid training available.